A “rest day,” with respect to surfing (which basically means my wife asked me to stay home today and help with Lena), nevertheless I got in a killer WOD, based on two recent CrossFit Asheville WODS, from today (Monday, July 20th, 2009) and from Saturday (July 18th).

Warm-Up

Old Iron Balls: yes, this is the approximately 75-80 lb weight bar I've been using here in Arch Cape

Skill Work

Practiced Handstand, Headstand, and Handstand Push-Ups using a resistance band harness. Practiced a pull-up-bar muscle-up with a large resistance band (this is technically challenging; I did get one, however).

Strength WOD: Mini-Manson

This WOD is based on today’s CrossFit Asheville WOD, “manson.” I did it with Old Iron Balls, my too-weird-to-believe it found object weight-bar, which is either a 75 or 80 pound bar.

1-2-3-4, Deadlifts and Hang Power Cleans; 4-3-2-1, Front-Squats and Push-Presses

Results: 3 minutes 20 seconds.

Metcon WOD: Short Cindy

This one goes out to X-fit Asheville’s Saturday “Ladies’ Choice” WOD. In retrospect I could have managed a full Cindy, but I stuck to plan and did only a 15 minute “short Cindy.”

Yes I went over the time limit in order to do 8 full rounds. If that’s not ok with the CrossFit gods perhaps I can atone later in some way.

For those of you who are counting that is: 40 pull-ups, 80 push-ups, and 120 squats. YES I DID THE PULL-UPS on this WOD without RESISTANCE BANDS … so there! (This is only the second time I have done a CrossFit WOD without band-assists on the pull-ups. My kipping pull-ups remain pretty basic, pretty shitty really, but they were there and that’s how I did 40 unassisted pull ups in a 15 minute span.

I previously did the full length Cindy two months ago on May 15th. Then: I used resistance bands for the pull-ups and did only 11 rounds in 20 minutes. Now: I did 8 rounds in 15.5 minutes (implying 10 or more rounds total) and did not use bands. I’d call that improvement.

Afterworkout: More Surfer Get-Ups

Relax… just 10 more for good measure. Hitting the waves again tomorrow AM! Yes!

Share this:

I wanted to call this post “iterruption” but I figured that most people would just assume that I accidentally dropped the “n” in interruption. The word “iterruption” combines interruption with iteration. When I think back about today these two themes, iteration and interruption, dominate my thoughts, and make me think about the how both repetitive and disjointed activities (and events and movements and processes) constantly structure or complicate our lives. Repetition and planned repetition, which is practice, can increase capacity. Interruption, also, forces us to grow, as we seek self-mastery in the constantly shifting landscape of human action.

When I was completing the Kipping Swings the Kohnstamms arrived. I greeted them and then finished out the rest of the sequences listed here, but did not do a well-planned warm-up for the bar. I did not go on to do my planned WOD: 21-15-9 of Clean and Jerks and Box-Jumps. That’s one interruption, and I believe it worked well for me. There were others during the day… visitors, changes of plan, unexpected sudden fogs and winds, and so on. Life is a series of interruptions.

Iteration. Today I formally resumed my “Pull-Up Challenge.” What happened was this. At the start of the day, I wanted to do a set of 5 pull-ups, because I have been doing a lot of small sets of three in recent days. (I have stopped recording all the pull-ups I do — I throw in sets here and there). But then, after doing five, later I did another set of five. And then, every time I walked by the bar I stopped and did a full set of five. And then, all of a sudden, I realized I’d done six sets, or thirty reps. Pretty close to where I left off the pull-up-challenge. So I did one more set of five, leading to a resurrection of the pull-up challenge. Call that one iteration, or series of them. But there were others today as well. For instance, the main principle behind my “warm-up” is repetition. And then there’s the fact that I spent the whole day cleaning and “recovering” my space. Thus life constantly repeats itself.

Pull-Up Challenge Day 35

Technically, this was supposed to be another day 34. I actually just “owe” the system 33 reps. Anyway, over the course of about 12 hours during the day I got in seven sets of five pull-ups each. The next day, maybe tomorrow, it’s 36 pull-ups. So far, as a part of the official Pull-Up-Challenge I announced back in May, I have done 597 pull-ups. I have done many other reps of Pull-Ups, but they aren’t included in this number.

Share this:

Don’t Give Up the Fight

I had a great workout today. It was my first real workout in a whole week, since I did “Neoprene”last Tuesday. I gave this WOD a name of my own, even though it is a classic and official “mothership” WOD, because it seems to me that the WOD is perfect for the surfer in training. And, the words and sentiments of Bob Marley speak, of course, to far more than working hard to get up and stand up on the surfboard. We are in the fight for fitness and health… but let it be for the good of mankind.

Since arriving at the beach nine days ago, I’ve done two workouts and had, I believe, seven surfing sessions. It’s not a problem that I’ve only done two “workouts.” More to come! In the same way, it’s not a problem that I won’t be surfing much this week (as it now appears… things change fast). On that, see below. What matters is that, out here, every day counts for something. And today counts.

This WOD felt awesome. It was hard. I had to count out some walking steps to get my 400 meter distance, and I’m not sure I got the distance right (my 400 m times were a bit slow, I think).

My time was 16:42. In comparative terms, this is, I have to say, pretty slow. My squats were really slow, and my 400 meter runs were all barely sub 2 minutes. But I wonder how many of all of the 14 minute times, 11 minute times, and 10 minute times posted on the CrossFit mothership website are young guys or people who have been in more active Metcon “for time” training events recently. Of course, I’ve been slow lately.

There is time for me to get stronger and faster… let this workout contribute!

On Not Surfing: The Week’s Surfing Outlook

If yesterday was flat as a pancake, today is whipped up like the cream on top. There was no chance of going out today.

The surf outlook for the next couple of days is NOT favorable. Conditions today were terrible, with a high West Wind, a tiny real swell, and huge wind waves tossing the surface of the sea. As a consequence, I didn’t even think about trying to work with the wave. And I don’t anticipate trying tomorrow or Thursday either. This is disappointing, since my original plan was to “surf every day.” But you have to be flexible.

Look at what the NOAA’s Coastal Waters Forecast has to say about days to come:

See? It’s not until Friday after midnight that conditions begin to look better. All week long it’s high winds and chop, with smallish swell. But, if you credit the weather report, it looks like Saturday will be epic… partly sunny, 73 degrees, low winds, decent swell. Great, if you can fight your way to the beach. I’ll be shooting for up to three sessions, two with Sean. Morning session at Indian Beach. Afternoon session at Oswald. Evening session in Arch Cape

I the meantime, I’ll just get in a few workouts and a rest day instead.

Share this:

What is “Baldwin’s Gym Notebook”?

I'm a middle aged college professor who, over the past six years, has been on a journey—a sort of Odyssey, really—of fitness and training. In this blog I share my thoughts and experiences along the way, in an effort to hold myself accountable, and possibly, to inform and entertain readers.

This blog used to be called "Training Board". Posts relating to these topics can be found on here going back to 2009.

I took about two years away from the blog, from March 2013 until March 2015. In that "dark period," a lot of things changed. But one thing that hasn't changed is my desire to live and to live well, and to include fitness, nutrition, and thoughtful reflection on training in my life.

Thank you for reading. If you feel like it, leave a comment. Let me know your thoughts too. Let me know how your training and life is going.